Teaching in Livingstone

Greetings from Livingstone. Yesterday I had a full day of meetings with the elders and church members from Livingstone Central CMML Church. This included some personal time with the elders which was very valuable. The teaching ranged from Church Discipline issues to Leadership Qualifications to Paid Staff to Womens Issues and a huge number of questions all the way! It was a rewarding time and these leaders are very active in the church and involved in outreach and church planting programmes. The home church has about 300 or more members.

Today we drive 60 kms to Kazungula where they have established a small church plant in 2007 and we have a full day of meetings. Sunday we meet with a daughter church in Livingstone in the morning and then back to the mother church in the afternoon. Please pray for clarity in teaching and the ability to discern and help with the real needs here. These leaders have asked if we could come to their annual conference which is late August - a time which may fit well for future team visits.

In talking with the leaders the passion they have for evangelism and church planting was evident. They desire to see all the regions in this area established with good churches - a venture they have begun to establish. They also have eyes on neighbouring Namibia and Botswana. The struggle they have is finances. One church plant in a town called Zimba is struggling because in the economic downturn they have not had the money to send their teachers and evangelists as they did initially.

To assist them in their work they are looking at the possibility of establishing a bookshop and even a poultry unit. I think that their initiative is commendable - they are not sitting back and waiting for others to help, but rather actively looking at ways to establish these works themselves.

The main church also has a lot of widows and orphans, something they take seriously in an effort to help these people. Praise God for a church with vision and passion and a heart for the truth!